The Candy House

　　當記憶可以數位化輸出，並上傳至雲端⋯⋯
　　普立茲獎得主再次描繪出科技與人性碰撞出的絢爛花火
 
　　科技界中的神話傳說級人物Bix Bouton，幾乎無人不知無人不曉。擁有超級頭腦的他，手中也不意外地擁有一間成功的公司Mandala。但2010年這年，他正值40歲，有4個孩子，公司發展卻遇到了瓶頸，苦無新點子。Bix意外加入了一個哥倫比亞大學教授的聊天群組，其中一人提到自己正在進行將腦中的記憶「下載」甚至將其輸出的研究。而時間跳轉至多年後，Bix公司推出了全新產品「Own Your Unconscious」，讓人能夠將記憶自腦中輸出，選擇上傳至雲端，甚至可以與他人共享。一時之間蔚為風潮，然而，並非所有人都喜歡這項新服務，其中包括了Bix自己的兒子⋯
 
　　作者運用深厚的寫作能力，帶領讀者穿梭在眾多角色間的意識、記憶裡，時間跨度橫跨了數十年，卻緊密交錯。有一群利用這些「意識資料」來挖掘他人心中慾望的「算計者」，也有認為「Own Your Unconscious」是裹著糖衣的毒藥，而不願使用此服務的「躲藏者」。藉由本書的宇宙觀，探究人性深處的韌性，人與人之間實際相處的的渴望、親情、愛情和隱私等等的本質。
 
　　(文／博客來外文館)

　　From one of the most celebrated writers of our time, a literary figure with cult status, a "sibling novel" to her Pulitzer Prize- and NBCC Award-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad--an electrifying, deeply moving novel about the quest for authenticity and meaning in a world where memories and identities are no longer private.
The Candy House opens with the staggeringly brilliant Bix Bouton, whose company, Mandala, is so successful that he is "one of those tech demi-gods with whom we're all on a first name basis." Bix is 40, with four kids, restless, desperate for a new idea, when he stumbles into a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or "externalizing" memory. It's 2010. Within a decade, Bix's new technology, "Own Your Unconscious"--that allows you access to every memory you've ever had, and to share every memory in exchange for access to the memories of others--has seduced multitudes. But not everyone.

　　In spellbinding interlocking narratives, Egan spins out the consequences of Own Your Unconscious through the lives of multiple characters whose paths intersect over several decades. Intellectually dazzling, The Candy House is also extraordinarily moving, a testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for real connection, love, family, privacy and redemption. In the world of Egan's spectacular imagination, there are "counters" who track and exploit desires and there are "eluders," those who understand the price of taking a bite of the Candy House. Egan introduces these characters in an astonishing array of narrative styles--from omniscient to first person plural to a duet of voices, an epistolary chapter and a chapter of tweets.

　　If Goon Squad was organized like a concept album, The Candy House incorporates Electronic Dance Music's more disjunctive approach. The parts are titled: Build, Break, Drop. With an emphasis on gaming, portals, and alternate worlds, its structure also suggests the experience of moving among dimensions in a role-playing game.

　　The Candy House is a bold, brilliant imagining of a world that is moments away. Egan takes to stunning new heights her "deeply intuitive forays into the darker aspects of our technology-driven, image-saturated culture" (Vogue). The Candy House delivers an absolutely extraordinary combination of fierce, exhilarating intelligence and heart.